An incubator of the type referred to above is known from Australian patent specification No. 62,950/80.
Incubators of this type are used for maintaining premature and newborn infants in an environment adapted to their needs. This environment is determined by the following factors, among others: temperature, moisture content and oxygen content in the air surrounding the newborns. To this end, the supporting surface for the infant is surrounded by a transparent hood, which is closed on all sides and has closable apertures or openings that are to be used only for performing various medical manipulations. Inside this hood, the ambient air is regulated by a suitable apparatus to the parameter values, such as temperature, humidity and oxygen content, that have been set by the user of the incubator.
Since the climatic conditions in the interior of the hood, where the infant is located, promote germ growth because of the increased humidity that is always present and because of the optimal temperature for growth of approximately 37.degree. C., both interior and exterior surfaces, in the case of the known incubator, must be disinfected after the apparatus has been in use for some time. Chemical disinfection methods are the only recourse here, because not all parts of the incubator can be thermally disinfected, since not all parts, as for example plastic parts, can withstand the temperature of 105.degree. C. and even 134.degree. C. required for thermal disinfection. As a rule, electronic components, which are used in the apparatus for regulating the incubator air, are not capable of withstanding such temperature stresses.
However, chemical disinfectants leave residues for a relatively long period after the disinfection has been performed. If these residues are located on the interior surfaces of the housing, for instance, then they can be given off into the interior air while the incubator is in operation. In that case, however, these residues also come into contact with the surface of the skin of the infant in the incubator, and if the infant is breathing spontaneously they also get into its breathing passages.
The apparatus required for preparing the interior air circulates this air continuously, so that the air supply conduits required for this purpose too may be coated with chemical residues, which are also given off into the interior air during the course of operation of the incubator.
If thermal disinfecting or sterilizing methods are used in incubators, then chemical disinfectants can be dispensed with so that chemical residues will no longer be given off to the interior air.